ASR District Free of Ganja Cultivation; Farmers Take Up Alternate Crops
Bardar said efforts are now being made to check the transit of weed from Odisha, where it is being grown extensively and routed through Andhra Pradesh.
Visakhapatnam: Once termed the capital of ganja harvest and trade, Alluri Sitarama Raju (ASR) district is no longer growing the narcotic. Instead, farmers who used to grow ganja have shifted to high value crops with encouragement from the state government.
“We have ensured zero planting of ganja in 2025,” underlined ASR district superintendent of police (SP) Amit Bardar. According to local estimates, the weed used to be grown over 15,000 acres.
Substantiating his claim, the SP told this correspondent on Friday that an analysis of satellite heat maps indicated that ganja is no longer grown in the ASR district. They followed up the satellite study with physical verification using drones.
Bardar said efforts are now being made to check the transit of weed from Odisha, where it is being grown extensively and routed through Andhra Pradesh. Police have conducted a survey to identify people from outside who encourage local farmers to grow ganja. They have also identified tribal youth whom the outsiders use to carry the weed to other parts of the country.
The SP said, “We have counselled farmers and youngsters of the agency area on how the ganja would destroy them. They have been given a vivid picture of people languishing in various jails with no signs of early relief.’’
Bardar said the state government has successfully encouraged farmers to grow alternative crops like avocado, coffee, rajma, litchi, rambutan, nutmeg and medicinal crops, which will get them a better income.
“So far, 29,000 farmers have received seeds of various cash crops,” the SP maintained.